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Chances are you may have heard of George Clooney, seeing as he’s one of the best actors of his generation, with a talent for picking out amazing script after amazing script and delivering a brilliant performance. Despite having a timeless aspect to him, his career has only really skyrocketed since the turn of the century, with starring roles in films such as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Syriana, Michael Clayton, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Up In The Air and, of course, the Ocean’s trilogy. But his acting isn’t the only thing to have taken off for Clooney, who is starting to build up an impressive filmography as a director. Like his ability to pick interesting scripts to act, Clooney has also shown this talent extends into picking material to direct.
Clooney’s first foray behind the camera depicted the life of popular real life game-show host Chuck Barris, who famously claimed to have secretly been a CIA assassin. The charismatic and interesting script was penned by Charlie Kaufman, who is fast establishing himself as one of the most original screenwriters in the world. After Bryan Singer dropped out of directing, as did Johnny Depp as Barris, Clooney took the reins with Sam Rockwell in the starring role. The film is excellently shot, perfectly stylised in its depiction of the various decades in Barris’ life, and strikes an impressive balance between dark humour and psychological thriller. Clooney showed that he’d learnt a lot from the directors he’d worked with, particularly Soderbergh and the Coen Brothers, but he went beyond this, creating a film blending various cinematic techniques but not to the point where it felt like a mess. Clooney’s talent as a business man was also clear; he got his fellow A-list stars to lower their prices and altered the script in an attempt to ensure box-office success whilst not losing the feel of the original story. Despite this, the film was a box-office failure, and Kaufman strongly disagreed with the script changes, but the movie received praise from critics, particularly for Clooney’s direction and Rockwell’s acting.
Clooney’s sophomore effort is arguably one of the best films of the decade. Co-penned by himself and friend Grant Heslov (who recently directed Clooney in The Men Who Stare At Goats), it tells the story of the conflict between media and government in 1950s Cold War America, focusing on the actions of veteran American broadcaster Edward R. Murrow against the fanatical Anti-Communist actions of the paranoid U.S Senator, Joseph McCarthy. The film was shot in colour but colour-corrected to black and white in order to blend flawlessly with the real-life archive footage used throughout. It oozes style; 1950s America has never seemed cooler, cigarettes are rarely out of character’s hands, and journalism comes across as an important and developing aspect of society. Danger and paranoia is ever-present, the risks of fighting the government through the media expertly presented to us. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, one for Clooney as director.
Clooney’s third film, Leatherheads, is a romantic comedy surrounding the early days of American Football in the 1920s. It is his worst received film, but is not a bad film by anyone’s standards. For the time being, it seems Clooney is taking a break from directing, with a starring role in The American released later this year, and various other acting roles reported to be in development. It’s hard to imagine Clooney not returning behind the camera given his success so far, and with any luck he could become the next Clint Eastwood; a legend on and off screen.
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